Controlling mechanism for voting-machines.



I A. J. GILLESPIE & W. J. LAUSTERER.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR VOTING MACHINES. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1908.

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mun mun mum \illllfllllltl WITNESSES; INVENTORJ fieXanc/er-B Cami/121s #4 Z 2;? D 137 BY dhv red esp/e- 06 V21 L I/ A3 Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

APPLICATION FILED J'UNEE, 1908.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEicE.

ALFRED J. eILLEsrI noE ATLANTIC, IOWA, AND WILLIAM J. LAUS'IERER, E JAMES- TOWN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS, BY MEsNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO EMPIRE VOTING MA- CHINE COMPANY, 01* ROCHESTER AND JAMESTOWN, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION on NEW YORK.

CONTROLLING MECHANISM FOR VOTING-MACHINES.

i To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALFRED J. GILLEsPIn, a citizen of the United 'States, residing at Atlantic, in the count of Cass'and State of Iowa, and WILLIAM LAUSTERER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jamestown,

in the county of Chautauqua and State of.

.New York,'have "invented certain new and useful Improvements in Controlling Mechanism for Voting-Machines, of which'the following is as e'cification.

. The'obec't of this invention is to provide means U vote on questionser amendments before he can release himself from the. machine.

. The invention is shown as applied to a machine such as is described in prior patents machine with the working parts exposed.

Fig. 2 represents a vertical transverse section of the machine on an enlarged scale on the line 2X, 2X, of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan v view of a portion of the top of the machine showing the curtain lever. Fig. 4 is an eleportion of the right hand part 1 vation of a ofthe machine showing the womans lockout and resetting mechanism. Fig. 5 is a detail of the womanslockout lever. Fig. 6 is a detail showin in perspective the connections between t e womans lockout shaft and its. operating mechanism.

-In the accompanying drawings like ref-' erence numbers refer to like parts.

In Fig. 1 reference numeral 1 refers to the Casing of the voting machine. On top of this casing at its center is mounted the shaft 2. This shaft extends u through the top of the machine casing an has keyed thereto the curtain lever 3. I This shaft has also keyed thereto the ratchet plate 4 which plate hastherein a pinhole 5. i

Pivoted on .the front of the machine are the Yes and No keys 6 having a double yoke 7 similar to that shown in Fig. 18 of the atent to Alfred J. Gillespie No. 647,657. hese keys are reset and locked by the bars 8 one of which bars serves to reset and lock" several of such keys so-that no key v which the voter is compelled to Specification of Letters Patent. P te t t 11; 1 0

Application filed June 5,

1908. Serial No. 436,852.

can be turned to the right or left without lifting the bar 8 which otherwise holds it. Pivoted to the rear of and a little above the /bar 8 is the rockshaft 9 which extends parallel to said bar 8. This rock shaft 9 has pins 10, 10, thereonwhich pins engage with and rest on-the bars 8, one of these pins 10 making Contact with each end of the bar 8 Each of these bars 8 is long enough to reset and look a number of the, Yes and No keys, preferably-five, and the two pins 10 on the rock shaft 9 will engage said-bar 8 near the ends thereof. In this .Way if any one of the bars 8 is lifted at either end the pin'10 resting on that end will be raised and the shaft 9 will be rocked. Atthe. left hand end of shaft 9 as shown in 1 is carried a necting rod 12 which connecting rod passes up through the bracket or guide 1-3 and at its upper end connects with the lever 14 pivoted at 15. On the right hand end of this with the hole 5 in ratchet plate 4 and operates to lock it.

VVhen'thevoter'has gone into the machine and has moved the curtain lever 3 to :the full line position shown in'Fig. 3 the" pin 16 mounted on the lever 14 raises into the hole 5 and locks'the curtain lever against-backward movement and the left hand end'of the lever 14 drops down rocking the shaft 9 so that the pins 10 thereon will rest on the bars 8. The movement of any of the Yes and No keys will raise any of the bars, rock the shaft 9 and through the crank 11 and the connecting rod 12- will rotate the lever 1 and draw down the pins 16 was to unlock the trolled by a latch operated or released by the party lever and may also be controlled by a latch operated by the Yes and No crank 11 which crank is connected to a conlever 1 L is carried a pin l6vwhich engages be voted on, the curtain lever'may be coni keys as is herein described, making it necessary for a voter to vote both a party lever v and a question key before he can move the curtain lever. In such a case the voter will be compelled by the mechanism of the machine to vote both a party lever and the Yes or No key before he can move the curtain lever to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3 to count his vote and reset the machine. At such elections it may also frequently happen that women will'be admitte to the machine to vote on such an office as school trustee and such women would not be entitled to vote with the party levers. In such case the party levers and oflice lines which the woman voter would not be entitled to vote with would be locked against operation by the lockout lever shown in Figs. 4 and 5 of this'application. Such a voter might not be entitled 'to vote on questions and would in that case also be locked against voting on the questions by the use of the Question lockout slides shown in Lausterer Patent 820,802 referred to. In such case the woman voter would not be able to release herself from the boothby voting onthe question pointers and it would then be desirable to effect such'release through the operation of the womans lockout lever. This can be accomplished by connecting the rock shaft 17 operated by the womans lockout lever with the Yes and N o releasing latch.

The womans lockout lever and the connecting parts are shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6,. 'Pivoted on the machine casing 1 in Fig. 4

is the lever 25 which extends through the casing in the machine and has within said casing keyed thereto the crank arm 26.to which is connected the connecting rod 27.

'A shoulder 28 is formed on said connecting rod- 27 which shoulder 28 engages with a crank 29 and rocks the shaft 17 when the bar 27 is moved up by the operation of the lever 25. Carried on this shaft 17 are the wings 30 which'engage with the corresponding recesses in the interlocking straps 31. The rotation of this shaft 17 by the. means above described will carry with it the crank 18 which is keyed to said shaft 17 at its left hand end as shown in Fig. 1. This crank 18 is in turn connected to the connecting rod 19 which connecting rod 19 in turn is connected to the crank 11 which in Fig. 2 appears as a double ended crank. If now the rock shaft 17 is turned in the direction inlatch 16 to be drawn down releasing the curtain lever. The connecting rod 19 has a slotted connection with the crank 11'so that the connecting rod 12 and crank 11 can manner above described all of the other parts connected to it will operate with itin the manner above described and the curtain lever will be released thereby.

On the operation of the curtain lever by a voter to reset the machine the womans lockout will be reset to normal position and the latch 16 will engage with the curtain lever compelling the next voter to vote on the Yes or No key before he can get out of the machine unless the latch 16 is again drawn down by the operation of the womans lockout above described.

How these parts are restored to normal condition I will now describe. As shown in Fig. t keyed to the shaft 2 is the double ended crank 32 to which in turn is connected the connecting rod 33 which in turn is connected to the bell crank 34 which bell crank is in turnconnected to a connecting rod 35 which connecting rod operates the lever 36. When the curtain lever is swung from the full line to thedotted line position in Fig. 3

this lever 36 will be thrown down to the. connections above described. This lever 36' is in turn connected to the vertical moving as shown in Fig. 6. .VVhen the bar 42 is pushed down the rock shaft 17 will be. rotated in the direction to push up .on the connecting rod 19 releasing the latch 16 so that it wil again be free to rise and engage the curtain lever. In this manner the operating parts will be restored to their normal condition after each vote has been counted on I the machine.

It will also be seen that by this invention the voter that is qualified to vote on ques tions will be reminded to vote on them and the woman voter who is not permitted to vote on questions can operate the machine to the extent of her limited franchise and will not be interfered with in the counting of her vote by being unable to move the question keys. And it will also be seen that all of the parts will be returned to normal position after each voter, regardless of the osition .in which they might have been set or such voter.

It will also happen that in certain elections there will not be any questions to be voted on and in such cases it is desirable that the latch 1.6 be put out of operation. To secure this. result a second latch 20 is provided pivoted on the bracket 13 for the purpose 0 engaging with the connecting rod 12 in the recess 21. When the connecting rod 12 iselevated the pin 16 is withdrawn from engagement with the plate 4:. In this position of the connecting rod 12 the latch 20 can be rotated so as to engage with the recess 21 and when so engaged it will hold the connecting rod 12 up and the latch 16 down out of operation. In this manner this controlling device may be thrown into or out of operation as the needs-of the election may require. Y

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is new and patentable is as follows 1. In a voting machine, the combination of an operating lever capable of a forward and backward movement, a latch for locking said lever against backward movement, keys for voting on, questions, means for moving said latch to release said lever for backward movement, said means operating to move said latch on the operation ofany one of the keys for votingon questions.

2. In a voting machine, the combination of an operating lever capable of a forward and backward movement, a latch for locking said'lever against backward movement, keys for voting on questions, means for mov ng said latch to release said lever for backward movement, said means operating to move said latch on the operation of any one of the keys for voting on questions, and means operable for permanently holding said latch in inoperative position.

3. The'combmation in a voting machine of a plurality of Yes-and No keys movable to voted position, a bar normally resting on said keys and raised by the operation of any one of said keys, a rock shaft rotated by the movement of said bar, a lever for operating the machine, a latch normally locking said lever against movement, connections between the rock shaft and the latch whereby when any one of the keys is voted, the latch is withdrawn from its locking position.

4. In a votingmachine, the combination of an operating lever capable of a forward and backward movement, a latch for locking said lever against backward movement, keys for voting on questions, means for moving said latch to release said curtain lever for backward movement, said means operating to move said latch on the operation of any one of the keys for voting on questions, a womanslockout means for independently operating said latch through the operation of the womans lockout. 1

5. In a voting machine, the combination of an operating lever capable of. a forward and backward movement, a latch for locking of a plurality of keys, a bar normally rest-,

ing on said keys and raised by the operation of any one of said keys, a rock shaft rotated by the movement of said bar, a latch operated by the rock shaft, and a lever controlled by said latch.

In testimony whereof we do hereby aflix our signatures, each in the presence of two witnesses.

ALFRED J. GILLESPIE. WILLIAM J LAUSTERER.

Witnesses as to the signature .of Alfred J. 1

Gillespie:

J. W. LAURENsoN, D. S. Enonroen. Witnessesas to the signature of William J Lausterer MARTIN L. BADHORN, ALEXANDER B. CORCILIUS. 

